Housing oversupply imminent

What, you never heard of keeping up with the Jones', er UAE?

When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.

-Winston Churhill

After the Summer, I hear stories of kids being taken out of schools. Let's face it though was there ever any need for everything that was built in the last 3 years ?

Yesterday my landlord reduced my rent by 10%. Could it mean there is already an over supply of property in Doha? Or could it just mean that the property market is going to be dead for the next few months with so many people leaving on holiday.

"*by* 2010" could mean tomorrow, or it could mean December 31, 2010.

Pretty big window when using the term "imminent".

brit - "the local market is likely to be oversupplied by 2010"

Can someone please put a value on "imminent" .

Blue you mentioned:

"change comes from within the individual, it can't be institutionalized, or taught. People can't be educated or trained to change how they view life."

Western education systems have institutionalized change. Children from an early age are taught to question and view things from different angles. These are qualities that make western societies dynamic and enable continual improvement.

It is time to stop viewing education in terms of simply memorizing and regurdutating information. People need to learn how to improve themselves through being more critical. Only then will Qataris become less reliant on expat expertise.

Frankly, I'm just glad to see that there are market forces at work here. It'll be a learning curve for all. Especially for the younger ones that have known nothing but the run up.

When I am abroad, I always make it a rule never to criticize or attack the government of my own country. I make up for lost time when I come home.

-Winston Churhill

i have been scouring the classifieds for months and have saw a definate decrease..... appartments used to be 8500 and up now they are about 6000 and up. stand alones and compounds used to be the high teens and twenties but now the majortity seem to be betwee 11000 and 18000.

which is good.

even comercial villas are way down now befor 30000 now 16000.

so i want everyone to cross their fingers and toes... it will keep going down.

what compound are you in? its sounds really reasonable, is it villas or appartments?

You can't teach experience...

Not my intention, I agree with the point above. It's the middlemen and dare I say it, Western so called experts that are taking the money and delivering so little.

The Country clearly needs to spend it's money but few would argue that things like the Pearl or a 10 Billion (and counting) Airport should have taken priority over roads, basic services and healthcare . Qatar needs to enter into the the 21st Century, they have just gone about it the wrong way.

Universities with flashy names look good but ex-pat kids need decent schools to go to. We need hospitals and healthcare just like the locals. These all should have been prioritised.

Let's get bogged down in the argument over good and bad locals, we know the problem. I am quite sure many older Qatari's too can see the problems.

It is for them to figure out. Their future is also dependant on our future. If they continue to fail to notice, acknowledge or respect the contribution that ex-pats make then as stated above we may very well just "rape' the country as we won't receive anything else in return.

Bleu I am wrong in thinking you have a couple of Egyptians, Filipinos and Lebanese doing the work rather than the Indian :) (I am teasing)

I agree with much you have said.. However, I would also suggest that Qatar is a new nation and that the government is learning..

Yes, It has made mistakes. but it has also done a lot for its citizens (which is not always appreciated).

I believe that Qatar will learn and come out of the recession stronger and wiser.

...it has no knowledge or history with money, and does not know its value. Locals think that money id free, and it will always bite those who think that way, eventually, and hard.

Housing prices here were and are like the throwing of a dart at a wall and seeing if it sticks. For 18,000 QR, you can rent a beautiful place in London, Paris or New York. Here it gets you a villa in a compound built by 3rd worlders, and starting to crumble like a 3rd world hut. There is not even the slightest hint of pride of workmanship, or fit for purpose,,,they don't even bother to sell you that anymore.

My bet is to anyone that with prices already falling 30%, you will see another 25% this coming year, and a realistic rent rate following that.

A 1800 sq. foot villa should be worth 6000 QR per monthmaximum,,, and thats the truth folks....

aviduser

thanks for all ur useful posts.

please do let me know, when u start a blog.

would love to read more from u!

very intersting.

cheers

fefee

action speaks louder than words

....ok that may sound strange from a cynical expat but I've been here 5 years now and I like the Qataris. Most have been nothing but nice to me and seem quite pleased I am here.

However the level of expectation of some of the young Qataris is astounding. In my job I get comments like, I'm a graduate of (I won't name the college) and we are special. We have to be hired on a higher grade than any other university. (needless to say we didn't take any)

Some are smart, driven and could make it anywhere and they are the future of the country, but on some topics dare not speak their mind. (Our leaders know best because they tell us) Others display such blind faith its disturbing. I think the leaders of this country have a great vision and are looking in the right direction, however the implentation is seriously flawed and I think a lot middle men are making a lot of money without serious questions being asked..... the standard of construction is poor for the amount of money being thrown at it.

I'll say again these are nice people and I want them to suceed in the long term, but spending it all now and getting side tracked because you have a new ferrari, a penthouse on the pearl and more money in your pocket than most people see in 3 years of working is a reciepe for disaster. Don't blindly stumble into a future that you children will pay the price for.

The future is up to you, I don't want to hear in 20 years than the expats raped your country and took all the money with them because that will not be true. Destiny is in your hands and their is no one else to blame if it goes right and no one else to blame if it goes wrong...

fubar, I would talk if you asked me.

aviduser, I'm with you in general, I disagree about the part about the Indian.

I'm sure that we are wasting a lot of money, and that if WE DON'T CHANGE, we'll ask "Who moved our cheese?".

But change comes from within the individual, it can't be institutionalized, or taught. People can't be educated or trained to change how they view life.

I hope that whenever green energy is viable, some of the giant oil companies buy it, and put it in a drawer somewhere... We depend on O&G, and we'll keep depending on them for a long time... (We shouldn't be spending on developing anything GREEN at QSTP).

I'm very thankful for what the government is doing for us, and I don't doubt anybody's intentions, but I still feel we may be spending the money in all the wrong places... We need Education, Healthcare, Infrastructure,... like anywhere else in the world, but we shouldn't be blinded by the flashy names, and keep spending, spendING, spENDING, SPENDING, SPENDING, without any QC or real evaluation.

I have heard some people say that all projects here are a great success, and are the best, even if they fail.

The reason they should ask questions is because it's their country and their future at stake. And I'm sure some of them are asking.

Sadly, and to be honest I don't blame them for not asking. In many respects we are like them too. How many of us taking the cash really want to ask hard questions ?

It's not in our interests to rock the boat and neither is it in theirs.

They are very proud of their country and the city and hail the progress that has been made. A measurement they gauge from the buildings not from the any sort of societal change.

One thing that does fascinate me is the comment above. The guy saying we have too much money. I don't disbelieve the guy said it. If it's true though why is my Government sponsored company cutting back budgets in every department and at every level ?

I don't think they are quite as flush as they think they are. Airlines, Airports, Oil changes and Penthouses don't pay for themselves you know.

In my experience Tallg, most Qataris don't engage in those sorts of conversations, at least not with a foreigner like me.

Usually they give a curt reply like 'the government has a plan' and that's where the conversation ends.

They have total faith that their unelected leaders are doing all the right things with the country's money, and it would be unpatriotic to display even a hint of doubt.

why don't you start a new one on that basis?

Irrespective of how much truth is in what aviduser says, I'd be very interested to know how Qataris themselves are spread along the spectrum of optimism/pessimism with regard to the future of their country and what's being done now with the money.

How many think that everything is rosy and nothing can stop Qatar's rise?

How many think that money's being spent in the wrong places on the wrong things, and that it will catch up with Qatar in the near future?

How many actually care?

one of the smart Qataris I work with took one look at the paper one day with a senior Qatari offical saying they had 10 or 15 billion to invest in wealth making. His reply was very interesting. Is it 10 or 15 Billion the difference of 5 billion is not a small amount of money!! and then he said, ah sigh.....we have too much money...

Yeah, but bikini's those are the things in the economy that are really going to hurt us... that and not converting to Islam/Christainity/Buddism....

hehe - get it all out avid, you'll feel better once you do!

Regardless of the content of your writing, the way you write is very entertaining and readable. You should start collating all your thoughts somewhere other than spread across the uncool threads of QL.

I really gone off topic there, sorry. I really need a more productive outlet for my ramblings.

Perhaps I will start a blog :)

A fool and their money are easily parted. Dubai is obviously the region's main personification of this trend but Qatar are equally guilty.

They seem to believe they are working at a level above Dubai by concentrating on Education and Culture rather than tourism.

It's all equally as pointless. They can spend billions on education city but until the change the sense of entitlement that the Qatari's have they won't ever bother or need to learn.

Still they continue, a beacon, an oasis of education in the region, how every one coos and admired the buildings. Bravo they all say, clapping their hand and congratulating them selves on their success.

We all know how it works here, we know it's pointless, even the people teaching know it. We have seen them debate it on this very web site. Degrees handed out to everyone as the very success of the institution is based not on the Quality of the finished student but on the quantity.

And it doesn't matter, the students will leave University and take a well paid senior job, they won't have to work their way up or prove their worth. No on will judge them and no one will argue with their point of view.

The actual work will be done by the hard working Indian on less than minimum wage. He will toil be abused and will probably have to get the tea, he won't be invited to eat the sweets or doughnuts but of course, he will be expected to do the work.

Of course he is only going to be as good as the person who has the final say. Progress will only go as far as the man who needs to "sign it off". Of course they will be no where to be seen.

So the roads deteriorate, the pavements crumble the buildings fall apart. Time is wasted money is spent. It's OK though we have it to spend they say. Gas is our future. Here is 10 Million for drag racing, have another to change the Oil in your car. Here have 100 Million for a flat in London, it's OK we have plenty.

So the Indian toils and we beaver away, keeping our heads down, tutting at the profligacy, still it's not our money as long as are paid who cares ?

And it continues buildings lie empty, towers and metro's are built. "It's fantastic they all cry" a truly modern City they declare. And then. And then the bills start coming in, alternative energy is the new thing, no one needs Oil any more, Gas is last years thing.

And then slowly the people trickle away, the party is over, no one wants to be the last one to leave. The host is in the corner, "where did everyone go" "why did they leave so early" ? "It was just getting started"

We all know, none of us want to be here when the party is over, Dubai right now is finding out what it is like when the music stops playing.

Luckily Dubai was the popular kid, the cool one, people know that soon they will throw another party and they will return.

Qatar is the kid in the corner, you are obliged to go to the party because you were invited, "we will just show our faces" we all say. "In and out quick" we hope.

Let's hope the music doesn't stop too soon.

rents are going down.In our compound, previous rent was Qar. 7. k, now 50% people have their lease ending in May -Jun 09, They are offered a new lease for another year for Qar. 6 k per month. so rent is reduced by 1 k.

aviduser, you hit the nail on the head (where it hurts).

You also see these officials in the newspaper, with their hands in a gesture that he looks like he's saying something important, with a huge title : XXXXXXXXX spends QR XXX million on a YYYYYYYYY project. The biggest YYYYYYYYY in the middle-east.

He's proud to have spent this much money.

Aviduser...Sadly but true...Majority of us are interested only in Religion,TCN basihng,Racism and ofcourse in bikinis tooooooo,

But I am depressed to see that a discussion about girls in bikinis has generated over 3 pages of mindless back and forth.

It would seem no one is really interested in the realities of the economy. Too many people are worried about bikinis.

:(

Aviduser...very inteligent observation.

As I say infrastructure isn't sexy and can't be put on a promo reel for the city. Some of you must have seen the adverts for Qatar Financial Centre, saying Qatar is of the most "dynamic" places in the World to do Business. In the Advert Qatar does look sexy, the towers the track the corniche and Conrneil. All very impressive.

Of course scratch the surface and the reality is very different. We all know that. Anyone who spends over 3 days here knows that as they will have exhausted the supply of things to do here.

Dynamic ? A Place to do business ? The figures simply don't add up.

I am sure Qatar is in recession right now only hidden by the increase in Gas exports. Anecdotal evidence is everywhere. Cars not being sold, abandoned towers in Westbay and the Pearl, taxi's available, furniture and electronics not selling, places available in schools and the endless empty apartment and Villa complexes.

The problem is how does a country like Qatar cope, in short they can't. They have been told they can do what they want, build and they WILL come they are told.

Who would tell them otherwise, no one gets rich telling a country they need to concentrate on the structure and makeup of their society before building billion dollar airports. No one can make a killing telling a rich man he should save for a rainy day. You can't pull off a heist if you tell your victim you are about to rob him.

So it will continue, Towers will be built Losail may very well be built and they might even build up Al Khor. Sure you need a metro system they say, how will the millions of people possibly travel around this great City without it ?.

They will continue to bid for World Cups and the Olympics. Who would tell them otherwise. There is big money to be made selling dreams to rich people. And they come no richer than Qatar. They say a fool and his money is easily parted.

Back to topic, it's easy for us to think that pipes and roads and water should be laid first. This of course assumes that we are in a country is actually run with any level of competence.

I have argues before that the Emir could very well be a smart man, but he has no control over how his departments execute his wishes. Qatar as we see it today is an example of executed incompetence. Some of us even work in areas trying to rectify this, but we are not in charge and we do not have the final say.

I would love to have more optimism but I have been here a while now, at first I saw progress and I thought I saw change. It turned out it was just a mirage in the middle of the desert sands.

It has been imminent for the last 5 years...

True. Sad, but true.

Look at it from this perspective..

Infrastructure projects are usually financed by the government and can be multi fold. they can be easily given to companies who may be friends of friends of friends :)

I'm starting to wonder if they will ever focus on infrastructure. If it's not done at the outset, it only gets more and more difficult and expensive to do down the track.

I guess we're in for years of roads and pavements being dug up in West Bay as the geniuses realise that they now need to instal pipes, cables, etc.

If only they could do things properly in the first place.

I agree with you. I was just saying that the next round of projects will focus on infrastructure.

The same thing happened in Saudi :0

Brit, many would have presumed that the infrastructure projects, like the adequate provision of a reticulated supply of potable water and sewage water, electricity, telecommunications network, carparking, public transport and green space etc would have been built in tandem with, if not BEFORE, the construction of dozens and dozens of commercial and residential towers.

Even blind freddy can see that Dubai's airports, hotels and big shiny buildings didn't save it from economic gloom. Quite the contrary. It was the over zealous construction of these things that helped to speed up and worsen their economic problems.

Very well said - thanks.

i would suggest however, that infrastructure projects will have to be brought to the fore once the Tower building finishes. These are a must for sustainability and future expansion.

I recently read that the owners of the Westbay towers were unwilling to rent their towers to the Government as they were only offering half the "going rate". So the towers stand empty.

This can only go on so long, any willing investor in Qatar will immediately be aware that he has an abundance of choice when it come to office space yet the prices will prohibitively high. How many good businessmen are going to be willing to pay sky high rents when they can see with their own eyes 20 empty towers ? They will know the prices are rigged.

Qatar is in a fascinating position, they have clearly been told, no doubt by highly paid advisor's that they are invincible and they have the future at their feet.

The problem now is that many of the predictions made of growth in both business and tourism were based on figures from the past 7 years, exactly the same time that Qatar started to plan and build for it's future.

As we all know now the last 7-10 years of growth in the World's economy has been built on unsustainable debt. This debt will take years to unwind, and once it does there is certainly no guarantee that things will ever return to the way they were.

Unfortunately Qatar has been building and planning for a future where the growth was not only to continue but to grow further. Why else build an airport with a capacity nearly that of Heathrow ?. Why build all the towers in Westbay ? Why build a new City when the one you have is perfectly adequate ?

Qatar needs to enter into the 21st Century that is certain. No one would walk around ANY part of Doha and think this was the richest Country in the World. In fact you are more likely to think you are in a developing 3rd World Country.

Qatar needed to spend the money it's spending, they just needed to go about it different way.

They didn't need a new airport and they certainly didn't need 20-30 Empty office buildings. They need to concentrate of infrastructure, town planning and affordable high quality housing.

Instead they brought us the Pearl an impressive white elephant, full of high end boutiques for the wealthy. How many people living in a studio in the Pearl will suddenly get up and think I want to buy a Ferrari ?.

Of course roads pedestrian, bridges, mains water and sewerage are not glamorous projects, what country wants to admit that although they are building a 10 billion dollar airport most of their citizens have to have their water and shit carried around in trucks ? It doesn't really fit the image.

So Qatar will forge on, no doubt oblivious to it's own folly. I have no expectation that they will suddenly embrace the ex-pats that help build and run the Country, we will continue living here, draining the Country of it's money all the while planning our escape.

In the meantime Qatar will spend it's money on Towers and Airports and Cities and all the other fripperies they think make up a Country all the while ignoring exactly what really makes a City and a Country. It's people.

Commercial rents are, as Aviduser points out, also a problem in this country.

It's so difficult for businesses based here to be competitive. Not only do they have to pay for their employees' accomodation expenses, either directly or indirectly, they also have to pay ridiculous rents to operate in Qatar.

Low corporate taxes are irrelevant if you find yourself having to pay high costs for real estate, commerical or residential.

My landlord has offered to reduce my rent if I sign up for another year when my current contract ends. When I first signed up last year he was not open to negotiations, his attitude was either take it for the advertised rate or leave it. The fact that he has now offered to reduce the rent (without me even asking) shows that prices are coming down and there is an over supply. If landlords don't offer the going rate then people are now in a position to be able to move.

thank you for saying what I have been telling my Qatari friends at work for the last two years. Without the expats when the easy money runs out you are screwed. So you are worth 10 million riyals, that will go very quickly if you can't replace it with a decent income. Big houses, lots of cars, huge monthly expenditure is unsustainable.

Without the expats the amount of money in the economy will drop dramtically and Qatar has no long term future. (I'm talking 20 years plus). I know the locals hate to here this but they have to give expats passports for the ones who want to stay, otherwise they have no real commitment to the country. So when the easy money runs out, (and that could be sooner than they think. Having s**t loads of gas for 200 years does not matter if no one wants to buy it) this country will be set for a huge correction.

If no one understand this, its simple economics. If expats (or future citizens) do not rent or buy houses, spend money in the malls, send their kids to fee paying schools, have membership at clubs etc, etc.... that's a lot of money to lose out of the country. What would 200,000 Qataris do on their own? Who will feel the empty buildings and shopping malls?

Yes Rents are going down. My Rent is QR 7000 at present but will be reduced to QR 6000 after the renewal of agreement in 2 months.

Qatar will stay an uncompetitive place to do business. There is simply no denying that even with all it's problems Dubai is a better place to live and work.

There is no room for 2 Dubai's. We keep hearing all this guff aobut Qatar not wanting to be Dubai but at the end of the day it's simply because they can't compete.

High rents are a tax that someone has to pay if you were setting up a business in the Gulf where would you choose to do it ? More importantly where do you think you might have a chance of recruiting a decent, motivated, skilled work force. Where do you think ex-pats, for the right package would prefer to live ?.

For three years we have been expecting a fall in rents it's safe to say the proposition I outline above is keeping them high. This short sighted policy is doing real long term damage to Qatar and it's reputation.

It's interesting because they have so much money it would appear that the country simply doesn't care. It's bizarre though as it does matter in the long run.

Look around you in the malls, big Qatari families lot's of young children, where will they work and what will they do when the money runs out ?. If they don't start to embrace the ex-pats and realise that they are in fact their future then things like rent will never come down.

Ruining their country for future generations.

I am not optimistic and I am sure neither are you.

Rents have reduced, as far as I can see, from being exorbitant to now just being ridiculous. They have a long way to go before they could be called reasonable.

Apart from for those people above whose rents have already reduced...

Rental rates are ridiculous, and if you see the QL classifieds, they continue to be ridiculous !. Don't care what Newspapers or experts say, nothing has changed or will change in my opinion ..........

I should have added that landlords that are unable to dump their assets back to the banks may very well reduce their rents.

Due to underwhelming demand only a few landlords owning a few compounds could in effect have some impact in rents.

3 Bed Villas are now going for 12K I think we could see a floor at 10K. The point made above that why would anyone pay 16K for a flat in the Pearl when villas are 10K is right hence the Government doing all they can to sustain rents.

And don't any of us get lulled into the rising Oil price having any bearing. This just means the Government actually HAS the money for this bailout rather than having to issue sovereign debt bonds.

Nice insight avid. Thanks.

This article is slightly more forthright in it's view of the situation in the local market, The Peninsulas view was slightly less optimistic.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/558139-qatar-banks-set-to-struggle-amid-real-estate-exposure

I have been banging on about this topic for ages now and came close to predicting the current crisis. I said about 4 months ago the banks here are insolvent this is further proof.

This measure and the reports tell me two things. If you have property here or in Dubai you are in serious trouble, by selling their portfolios to the Government the banks are essentially saying that the assets have no value, after all why sell something if you though in the long term it would appreciate in value.

The second thing this tells me is that rents may not now come down as far as we first thought. If the Government owns now owns all the property in the city they may have no motive to rent it out. In fact it's actually in their interests to keep rent high, why ?

They still have vast amount of the Pearl, All of BARWA city and most of Losail to still sell. To do this they need private investors to buy plots of land and develop towers apartments and Villas. As most of you know the Pearl is owned by QDC but they only developed 3-4 towers themselves, the rest of the Pearl they sold to developers who built their own towers to spec. This is the reason a least 2 towers have been abandoned in phase one as the sub developer ran out of money as sales dropped off a cliff.

OK so the Government has to sell these plots of land and try and claw back some of the money they have lavished on these projects. To do this they have to charge high prices for plots and to make the plots financially viable they then have to sell apartments at ridiculous prices.

You can only justify high prices if you can tell people that rental yields are going to be sky high (yields being the amount of rent per month x12 divided by the house price x 100)

OK still with me :) so this whole charade has to continue essentially to justify the cost of all the infrastructure and for the Government to see any sort of return on their MASSIVE investment.

So now if the Government now own vast amounts of empty property they will not dump the property on the market but keep it empty to justify the rents. And therefore stimulate investment in their mega projects.

Of course there is a bloody massive flaw in this plan and one that Qatar and most of us realise. There simply isn't the amount of people in this country willing or even able to pay the sort of rents they want in charge in places like the Pearl.

Another rather big problem and one that will not be easy to solve is the total lack of buyers for any of the plots or off-plan property being sold.

The reason so many developers have gone under here and in Dubai is because they never had the money to build the towers in the first place. Instead they advertised a tower and then took deposits to start building. They then received further staged payments and used the money to continue building. Of course these people had some capital to begin with but this was mostly spent on advertising and P.R.

Now this model has become defunct and rightly so the amount of developers has shrunk dramatically as essentially now not just anyone with a bit of cash and a flash brochure can be a developer.

That poses a rather large problem as Qatar and Dubai fell for their own P.R. and believed that things would keep going even though all around them MUST have know it was totally unsustainable.

So to cut a long story short, even though we all know rents should come down due to market fundamentals don't expect them to fall precipitously as the Government will now become the largest landlord in the Country

why would i rent 3 bedroom unfurnished in Zigzag for 16,000 when I can get a fully furnished 4 bedroom compound villa for less?

Its true that the Govt is supporting the Real Estate people....by investing in the banks and easing the credit problems.

But that doesnt mean the flats will start getting occupied.

If the flats have to be occupied then the rent rates have to fall......or they can keep it unoccupied for years together....(maximum 25 years ...then it will have to be demolished).

My Rent has not increased for 3yrs now...in fact it has lowered.

One of my friends got a smallish villa at wakrah for QR 4,500. Rented out half of it to other family.

2 yrs ago most of the advt in the papers were about Villas for QR 30,000 or 40,000.....today there might be one or two advts above 30,000.

A lot of appartments are available in the range of QR 6,500 to QR 9,000....and they are still vacant.

Barwa too has invited application for its property in Wakrah for QR4,500 for 2 Room Kitchen and Qr 3,000 for 1Room kitchen.

And.....I had predicted QR 3,000 by Dec 2009. I still stand by It.

Housing rental will remain the same or will continue to rise in Doha. But for the housing located far from Doha, say Al Wakra, Al Khor and the like might decrease rental rate.

--------------

Marunong ka sanang makiramdam!

This seems to go against the accepted wisdom of the Pearl development that:

The population will continue to grow at the same rate (which over the last few months has been shown to be false)

Demand will always outstrip supply (indicators point to that being false)

Property prices continue to rise (anecdotally this is false)

If I'd bought a property at the Pearl with the hope of renting it out, I'd be a little fearful now.

6500 IS A HUGE AMOUNT EVEN... ONE MIGHT NOT AFFORD... CUD IT BE REDUCE TO HALF... LOLz

7500 down to 6500

You can't teach experience...

home rentals are likely to reduce 0.7% running year... which will bcom 17% by next year...

If you see the market the rental prices have started to fall but by next year you will see further reductions. At present new building are offering much more lower rents than the existing building because existing building already have tenants if they offer lower, than existing tenants will create problem for them therefore they prefer to keep the apartment vacant rather than giving on lower rents. New building owners have yet to get the tenants so they have to offer lower rents to attract people. If you further research these property agents are the main culpirts for rents increase. I have presenally seen one building agreement where the orginal agreement with owner was QR 5000 for two bedroom but there were two more agreements for the same building and the final price in the market was QR 7000.

The factors that will largely affect future rental prices are as follows:

1. Pearl Qatar will start delivery of units by the end of year, more units will be in market

2. More housing units in different areas of Doha are coming in the market

3. Barwa housing will accomodate fairly large number of people who at present are living in different apartment buildings

4. Building owners who have taken loans for construction of apartment buildings have to repay the loans installments once the builing is finished so they can not afford to keep it vacant for longer period of time.

I am very surprised yesterday when the landlord representative came to my appartment with a letter !

and guess what was on the letter ? a message from the company (owned by the landlord) saying that they are reducing the rent by 1000 riyals !! starting next month !

note that my contract expires in Feb 2010 !!! and it states in the contract that if i choose to leave, i still need to pay the full amount left of rent !! i was paying 8000 riyals for semi furnished 2 bedroom (1 extra bedroom i am using as a TV room) so actually the appartment is 3 Bedroom ! from next month i will be paying 7000 riyals !

so the landlord did not need to do this ! but he did , lucky me i guess !! the whole building (small NEW building) got the same letter ! we have only been in this appartment for 3 months now and we are all pretty happy and thankful until now ! lets cross fingers and hope that prices will continue to fall !!

or the oil prices?

prices of commodities are way up,,,i dnt think it will go down.

houses,villas and flats?

i learned to make peace with it and let it go.

I used to pay 7500 riyals p.m for a fully furnished 2 bed apt. in a new building. I just renewed the same at 6500. So i can corroborate that rentals are coming down.

Rgds,

J.J

You're all assuming that a housing oversupply will result in rental decrease. I expect it will eventually, though probably very slowly, because isn't it the case that a building owner doesn't have to start paying back his mortgage if none of the property is rented out?

So isn't it there a chance that lots of these buildings will just sit empty, with the owner hoping a company will come and rent the entire block, rather than advertising for individual tenants?

From the owners point of view it's better to have an empty building with no mortgage to pay, rather than a couple of tenants bringing in a small amount of rent which doesn't come close to covering the mortgage.

un belivable.I dont think the rent will come down. Then how the land lords will accept for this kind of drastic fall down.Day dreams will not sucess. if it is reduced and if we got single bed room house for QR.500/ wow it will be mirracle.Are you expecting miracles????????

Of new flats available...near Toys ur us..

But they are flats...

A villa is stil kinda high

But you can get a brand new 2 bedroom apt for 6500 at the most...Fancy villa is around 1200-1600 right now.

With pool and club house n all that

You can't teach experience...

it is heading down. I don't think many half intelligent people believed that rents would come down after the Asians games, (that was just hope I think) but this time their is tangible evidence. However agents are still trying to rip people off, some of the conversation I have had with them are just plain daft....

If you want an idea of just how much is on the market go and check out Duhail and Gharaffa, there is now a multitude of empty villas. Stand alone and compound.

Doha will turn into virtually any other major city with certain areas comanding higher prices than others. West Bay will remain expensive but the outling areas cheaper and in some cases much cheaper.

yeah yeah yeah... here we go again...Didnt I hear the same story when I came to Doha, that rent will fall right after Asian Games? Weren't some Abuamericans making laugh of me, saying that the rents ARE going down, and I just don't want to admit it? Didn't someone just at the end of 2008 try to assure everyone that rent will fall in the beginning of 2009, maximum by March? the reasons for falling rents were given about the same: a lot of empty apartments, a lot of new constructions, then crisis came into the scene...and?? where is that?? and why it now postponed till 2010? Was not it promised in 2007? Then in 2008? Then in 2009? Why now – 2010?? but hey, how Abuamerican promised ME personally that i "will see" in February-March of 2009, how rent will go down for 30-40-50%!

again, I really want rent to go down SIGNIFICANTLY (don't try now to give me some single examples of friends of your friends of your friends, who got somehow somewhere a villa for 5000 - we don't know who, how, and where!)... I want rent to fall, because we are paying out of our pocket! ..and I want to believe it will happen ..ok, now in 2010... but I won't believe it until i "touch" it...

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“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

This has turned into a house-hunting thread :(

I live in one of the Al Fardan properties. The rent was increased by 10% effective 01 May.

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- Listen to Many...Speak to a Few -

each time i see new building with a hundred flats or 30 villa projects here and there, i wonder who's gonna stay there?

they're growing like mushrooms!

I think I've discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it.  ~Charles Schulz

ANYONE KNOW OF ANY REASONABLE LANDLORDS? I am looking for a villa in ain khalid.... but it may be advisable to wait till the prices drop...yes?

brit, if you find one - pm me!! Searching for 2 months now. :-(

Whatever you vividly imagine, Ardently desire, Sincerely believe and Enthusiastically act upon, Must inevitably come to pass.

come on this site to say its not true and the market is great. For the last 7 years they have not had to work for a living and were able to rip people off. They also charged more for certain nationalities because they could get away with it...

stealth - this seems a more tangible report; they look at the existing number of properties and the number being built and compare it to the current population and predicted population growth, factoring in things like people who come here but don't have to rent/buy property (i.e. expats living on site or in labour camps). Figures calculated from that for the short-term future should be fairly accurate.

i just moving my house. becoz i got chip and best house then befor 3years.

rent may rise / fall ? i dunno..i think it will remain same for some time now.

Moving on is simple; it's what you leave behind that makes it so difficult .

rents fall and we get to breath in good open space..i mean get a good house

Another thing to mention is the imminent act of government employees allowances reduction.

I work for a government organisation and we have been warned that all housing allowances are being reduced accross the board to help address the issue of inflation in rents.

This means when I once got 15K a month for a villa will now go down to 4k a month. Hell of a drop to cover. We have yet to have it come in but has already been enforced at the Museam Authority. Anyone else had similar from their Gov. employers?

dont believe the newspapers. The other day another expert was saying rents will not fall down......

I'm looking also. Any suggestions on a two bed apartment or small villa in a compound ?

Thanks tallg! Good news for us, house hunting! Beverly Hills Tower was full, btw! :-( Thanks anyway.

Whatever you vividly imagine, Ardently desire, Sincerely believe and Enthusiastically act upon, Must inevitably come to pass.

does this mean that by next year i can have an apartment for 500 only? ok, ok i am just dreaming:-)

usapa na...